The eThekwini Municipality has announced temporary closure of Stapleton Road Bridge in Pinetown, west of Durban, to facilitate urgent and accelerated repair work.
The bridge serves as a key link between Sarnia Road and the King Cetshwayo Highway (M13), providing access to Pinetown and New Germany.
In a statement, the municipality said the decision to close the bridge was made in the interest of public safety, and to enable the repair operations to proceed efficiently and without obstruction.
“Following recent assessments, it was determined that a portion of the concrete structure has been compromised and requires immediate removal and reconstruction. The Municipality’s Structures Department has completed most of the repair design work and is fully mobilised on-site.
“In addition to structural concerns, investigations revealed that the northern road embankment is being undermined, resulting in a narrowed and unstable roadway. Vibrations from heavy vehicles have worsened the condition, especially near the recently reconstructed water main,” the municipality said in a statement.
The city warned that ongoing traffic presents a significant risk to both motorists and the construction workforce. It said full closure of the bridge will allow uninterrupted work to proceed without interruption, reducing the repair timeline, while ensuring maximum safety and quality standards.
The municipality acknowledged the inconvenience caused by the closure and apologised to all affected residents, businesses, and commuters.
“The municipality assures the public that teams are working round the clock to minimise the closure period, while upholding the highest standards of safety and engineering,” the municipality said.
The bridge is expected to reopen within 21 days, or sooner if weather and site conditions remain favourable.
Motorists have been advised to use the following alternative routes into Pinetown:
· Via Main Road (Underwood Road), or
· Via the M7 (Edwin Swales Drive) through Bellair.
Power restoration underway after storm damage
Meanwhile, the municipality has reported significant progress in restoring power supply to areas affected by the recent strong winds, which caused widespread damage to infrastructure and interrupted power in several areas across the city.
The municipality said the Electricity Unit has been attending to a high volume of electricity faults, with many areas already reconnected.
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“As teams work through these faults, common causes identified include fallen poles, trees falling on power lines, vegetation encroachments, blown roof sheets, and other foreign objects entangled in the power lines which have all contributed to the numerous outages. City teams are prioritising safety and efficiency as they work to restore power.
“Teams are working round the clock to repair faults and progressively restore power in affected areas. Many areas have already had power restored. Restoration is being done in a phased and safe manner,” the municipality said on Thursday.
Residents are encouraged to report outages via the city’s digital fault reporting platforms, including:
For the latest developments on reported area outages, visit the Electricity Unit’s online area outage tracker page https://webfaults.durban.gov.za/WebsiteFaultsEllip…/Outage
This list is automatically updated as faults are logged and assigned to various fault teams until restoration.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
